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Reviewer: mikemet - - August 22, 2012
Subject: i was there
no... i wasnt. my spirit is there now, blown away by _this_historical_moment_in_time

came in for some dead, and stayed

must have /agree

Reviewer: rrschwz28 - - August 22, 2012
Subject: hallowed ground
Boy, that guy beneath this is smart! (I got a new e-mail address.)

But seriously, you newbies should remove your shoes. This is hallowed ground.

Live/Dead had been recorded seven months prior, and the band was already moving in new directions (Workingman's). But their psychedelic chops were as hot as ever, as evidenced by this night and the next.

Cafe au Go Go was a tiny (400 seat), famous (Lenny Bruce arrests for obscenity) club in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

History was made this night. I can find a total of only two times they played "The Seven," and one of those wasn't even the complete band (Mickey and The Hartbeats).

Bottom line: you should record this and make copies for your friends and neighbors.

Give me a second while I climb onto my soapbox.

There should be only two tracks here, because the band stopped only once: between Good Lovin' and St. Stephen. Listen to the amazing segue from The Seven into Good Lovin'. Listen to it the way they played it. You can't - not unless you have a 40-plus-year-old copy on cassette or reel-to-reel.

Anybody know of a better Doin' That Rag?

Reviewer: rschwz28 - - January 1, 2012
Subject: historical night
I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Thanks to this archive and the likes of Charlie Miller, we are all spoiled - sound-quaility-wise. Back in the day, when we collected tapes (cassettes), sound quality was important, but getting the performances (relatively) uncut was just as, if not more, important. And MOST important of all was getting songs not available on vinyl - like a live performance of Doin' That Rag into The Seven into Good Lovin' (into Saint Stephen into The Eleven). So come along as I travel back in time 37 years, and then we'll leap even further back in time.

It's 1974, I'm 17 years old and I've quietly entered the house. It's the wee hours of the morning, and the rest of the family are asleep. It will be several hours till I can sleep, of course, because there are still several hundred micograms of acid swirling in my brain. So I slip on the headphones, snap in a cassette and press play...lay down in the dark...and am transported back in time. Five whole years! There's no time to whine about the poor sound quality, I'm too busy marveling at the miracle of time travel!

I saw a neighbor I haven't seen in ten years the other day. "What happened to the motorcycle?" he asked. "And your hair! You used to have more hair!"

"You lose one," I told him, "and then you lose the other."

We are all time travelers.

Reviewer: Pangolin22 - - February 24, 2011
Subject: The Seven-Eleven??
This show's a little diamond-in-the-rough. The sound's a bit hard going and the vocals can be washed out at points but still well worth a listen.
The Good Lovin' is only so-so but the rest is dynamite especially 7 which is out of this world. Off it goes to the way-under-played-Dead-song graveyard along with Clementine and Believe it or Not.

Reviewer: clementinescaboose - - April 14, 2010
Subject: THE SEVEN GETS A FIVE
phleshy and bassisbest nailed this one...just read what they have to say about this historic dead moment. certainly a mystery why this song wasn't expanded upon. the sound quality does leave something to be desired, but listen to it on a good pair of headphones and let jer's leads in this one-of-a-kind dead jam take you away!

Reviewer: familiarfan - - January 14, 2006
Subject: Why not now
Explain with serious thought why the grateful dead couldn't come remotely close to that sound they had in 69-70 towards the end.
Cream for instance just had their reunion thing in London. Of which, I thought was only lacking the old amps and enthuisiasm.
It would've been nice before dying someday that I could say I heard history rather than watching 5 or however many people with same vices looking withdrawl like playing tired new age sounding shit. That for all things considered is depressing.

The Seven is my latest favorite along with Mr.Charlie from 8-6-71. I recommend listening to both.

Reviewer: A Dude - - October 27, 2005
Subject: Why not EQ in the digital realm ?
Given the level of technology shown in the lineage (and in other notes on other shows), I don't understand why EQ was not applied digitally to this recording.

I remember being too poor to avoid a tape any better than Maxell UD, but it's sad that that happens to be the best version of this show. It's hard to underestimate the lack of musical response of a UD cassette - designed for voice dictation only.

Given that, and the overwhelming brightness that is no doubt the result of the Dolby B encoding, it is really necessary to EQ this, with a large take down of the area roughly at 3khz. A corresponding peak around 300-400 hz gives some warmth that is otherwise lacking.

The only saving grace of the recording itself is the surprisingly good mix, especially for an audience recording. It's baffling as to what happened to the vocals - it might have just been a fault of the cafe sound guy at the gig.

The good mix means that the recording can be used as snapshot of what happened that night. However, like most poor audience recordings, it is hard to enjoy listening - it's just an academic exercise.

Now, as far as the performance itself goes, yes the Seven is pretty good, especially in the last few minutes where everyone gets on the same page. However, it is ultimately "one-dimensional" in the sense that it's all based on the breathtaking speed of it all.. and that's it.

If a version pops up later without the Maxell UD generation, it might be worth revisiting, but otherwise I'd have to rate this "academic interest only" - especially in light of the hundreds of other shows here at the Archive.

Reviewer: phleshy - - June 27, 2005
Subject: All Hail the Seven!
Once in a while, in the annals of Grateful Dead history, the boys deliver an absolutely mind-blowing jam when you least expect it. Jams falling into this category would be the 5/21/74 PITB, the 7/27/73 Jam>Wharf Rat, and the 12/6/73 DS. The Seven is such an amazing jam that I'll give 5 stars for that alone (although everything else is very good, even the ill-fated Doin' that Rag). I won't add anything to what the reviewer below me says, since this version of the Seven is easily the best circulating version of only 4 known to have been played. Why it wasn't developed further has to be one of the great mysteries in GD lore.

As for the sound quality, why complain? The AUD is quite acceptable, IMO. It sounded great on an old tape I had years ago and sounds even better now. Would you rather not have this piece of history on record? Download immediately.

Reviewer: BassIsBest - - May 18, 2005
Subject: Most unfortunate but thankful anyway
I have been listening to this night on an old cassette for 20 years (thought to be at the Action House, Long Beach LI). And unfortunately the sound on this recording may be the worst of the whole 67-69 psychodelic period. Vocals are 90% missing. But this may still be one the most important nights to download because of "The Seven". As it is a jam, missing vocals aren't an issue. But friends, believe me, IMHO this may be their greatest jam of the whole 67-69 period. I may be wrong, but this is the only recording of "The Seven" with the full band (see Mickey and the Hartbeats Oct 68). It is mindblowing from the first note segueing out of "Doing that Rag" to the last note marching into "Good Loving". Not one bad note from anyone.

You'll find great versions of St Stephen>Eleven etc. dozens of other times. But this is the only version "The Seven" and it is perfect! Why this jam was never a staple of 1968-69 is amazing.

Reviewer: josewavo - - March 25, 2005
Subject: Sounds Terrible
Better check a sample before download...I for one could not listen to it.

Reviewer: phishphreak81686 - - January 26, 2005
Subject: doin' that rag
shitty sound 4 is only a reflection of the music played and the great setlist but that cant be the whole so at least i hope not

Reviewer: Susep - - October 13, 2004
Subject: The 7
Tipped off about the 7 jam in the Compendium Vol. 1. Always a fan of inspiring GD improv., Garcia and the boys definitely sound manic and snakey, playing with unbridlled compassion and intensity. Summation= The GD hat IT on this night in Brooklyn, NY. and this jam reflects IT.

Notes

early show; AUD> ?> Reel> Cass (Maxell UD w/dolby B, playback on Sony TCK-909ES) > DAT (SV-3700 w/Oade +15dB input gain mod) > ZA2 > DiamondCut Noise Reduction > CD; upload by R. Nayfield, stemming from tree run by J. Miller, seeded by D. Hollister; covers